Spectra X is better than is predecessor. It measures better, sends less amp noise to headphones, filters better, and comes in the same slim package. It’s quite the update/upgrade from the same company within a year. The good news is that the original Spectra was so good that if you have it, you’re golden. If you don’t, X is a worthy investment.

As you know, I love the BTR1 and uBTR, but the BTR3 is a swing and a miss. Great measurements, yes, but physical interface/orientation problems and poor wireless signal catching make the BTR3 practically rubbish to use.

Audirect's Whistle sounds great. I mean I love the sound of its name. And it sounds good. From an audio perspective, it is more than worth its 99$ price tag. It gets louder than an iPhone (even approaching high-end DAP territory), keeps THD and IMD to inaudible levels, and does so with amazing unloaded performance. Even loaded it does remarkably, again approaching high-end DAP territory.

Below you'll find charts comparing it to both an iPhone SE and other Lightning dongle DACs.

Preamble: Cozoy have grown up. Neither TAKT nor REI spit mad Astrapi-like hiss from the headphone output. They are stable, solidly made, and, if you like well-machined metal, beautiful. Both also play to the low volume requirements of sensitive-eared listeners, yours truly included.

The uDAC5 goes for peanuts. It is well built, nicely branded, and compact. It converts USB signals to RCA stereo and coaxial SPDIF for outboard DACs and amps. It gets plenty loud, too: posting absolute volume levels roughly in the neighbourhood of an AK380. At those levels, however, IMD, THD, and stereo crosstalk numbers ramp up beyond reason. Its loudest stable volume is about a half decibel louder than an iPhone 6’s maximum, which is enough for me. If your iPhone is behind a EU volume cap, the uDAC5's power will surprise you.

Considering Astrapi’s abortive attempt at audiophilia, I expected little of REI. Instead, COZOY have corrected every one of Astrapi’s egregious faults. They are: REI outputs no more hiss than an iPhone 6; its lowest volume levels jive with sensitive-eared listeners; it outperforms the iPhone 6 in a number of key metrics; it gets loud without turning its signal to mush.

At the top of every every audiophile’s wish list should be the democratisation of headphone output performance. Think Chord Mojo, Theorem 720, ALO Continental. For good reason - hiss, poor output impedance, connection problems, and general shyte performance - Bluetooth DAC/amps rarely make the cut.

Adjusting input levels, and volume is easy breezy thanks to fine-tuned DAW and plug-in controls. Its headphone amp being poorly suited to low-resistance earphones, returning anomalies in frequency response, THD, IMD, and stereo crosstalk. Most of the anomalies smooth out by the time portable or monitoring headphones are plugged in. And, iD4 spits perfectly matched volume into both channels at all volume levels, not to mention trace amounts of background noise. I’ve yet to go deep into its microphone amps, but after digitising test signals from Mojo, I am relatively convinced of its recording fidelity - considering its price, and ostensible market. Stereo crosstalk numbers aside, that is.

While I've used cases (or makeshift substitutes) since 2007, I've never seriously considered a charging case. I don't need the bulk. And, my Quad Lock fastens to a bicycle like a camera lens to a camera. Amazing.

Every project Ryuzoh has been involved in exhibits a basic character set: stability, performance, and with the notable exceptions of his mods, ugly mugs. FiQuest wasn’t pretty. Neither was the Cio MB DAC. Come to think of it, the AK240’s harsh angles are fit only for press photography; and Mojo… God, what a horrible, alien design. Of course, neither Mojo’s nor the AK240’s ugliness are Ryuzoh’s fault.

My 2016 Headfonia review queue kicked off with a cost/performance skyscraper from Bob Rapaport. It’s the Essence HDACC. It goes for 499$ (down from 699$) and basically does everything you wish it would. Plus HDMI.

And to be honest, handling Mojo is a bit alien. While large and unmistakable, its buttons have obvious central axes. Miss them and they do nothing. Whilst setting my Fujifilm GX680 to 2s and mirror up, and my Hasselblad CFV-50c to something similar, I had to on turn and off turn the thing because it wouldn't respond to off-centre jams.

I got into valve amplification late. The first valve amp I really latched onto was the Woo Audio WA3+ (reviewed here). As you know, I'm a firm believer in ALO Audio's Studio Six (reviewed here) and the lovely Bender, Pan Am (reviewed here).

I have the LT-TB version of the Lynx Studio HILO ADC/DAC (~3000$) in office for another week, in which time I will continue to evaluate it as a pre-amp, a DAC, a headphone amp, as well as an ADC. My full review of it will be published at Headfonia. While I've not had time to formulate hard opinions on its DAC sound quality, I can say this: its ADC is as good as it gets this side of an audio analyser. Below are 16 and 24 bit / 44kHz RMAA test results for both its line and headphone outputs.